Weekly WiT (10/25/17): Aubrey Blanche, Atlassian Pty Ltd

Woman in Tech of the Week (10/25/17)

Under pressure to prove sexism stereotypes wrong, some tech companies grasp for any means to add female employees. But copying generic best practices may yield flimsy results; for example, a quota for women in tech only goes so far when a company pads it with human resources hires. Plunging deep into employee data, on the other hand, might uncover surer ways to move the needle forward.

“I get really excited about the idea that you can use research to make little tweaks to the way that you do things that change outcomes in really big ways,” said Aubrey Blanche, global head of diversity and inclusion at Atlassian Pty Ltd.

A “recovering social scientist by training,” Blanche regularly pores over the enterprise software company’s internal data to gauge equitable hiring, employee satisfaction and the like. The data may inform programs or focus groups aimed at retaining and promoting employees from underrepresented groups.

Probing its data has sometimes led Atlassian to counterintuitive insights into workplace heterogeneity; it’s also helped the company drill down to the level of individual teams. The latter has allowed it to go beyond blanket quotas that may patch a gender gap with HR or marketing hires.

“We’ve improved our hiring of women in technical roles by 80 percent over the last two years,” Blanche said.